{"id":21110,"date":"2026-02-02T14:19:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T14:19:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/softbank-faces-ai-test-with-potential-30b-follow-on-bet-on-openai-what-does-it-mean-for-ai-cryptos\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T14:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T14:19:10","slug":"softbank-faces-ai-test-with-potential-30b-follow-on-bet-on-openai-what-does-it-mean-for-ai-cryptos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/softbank-faces-ai-test-with-potential-30b-follow-on-bet-on-openai-what-does-it-mean-for-ai-cryptos\/","title":{"rendered":"SoftBank faces AI test with potential $30B follow-on bet on OpenAI, what does it mean for AI cryptos?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">SoftBank is reportedly weighing up to $30B more for OpenAI in a $100B round valuing the AI firm near $830B, deepening their Stargate data center and SB Energy push.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_15b6654f091177e54c884520a72c2b0f\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>SoftBank is in talks to invest as much as $30 billion more in OpenAI as part of a potential $100 billion funding round that could value the company around $830 billion.<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/techfundingnews.com\/openai-100b-raise-softbank-30b-follow-on\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The new cash would build on SoftBank\u2019s roughly $41 billion December investment for an 11% OpenAI stake, cementing Masayoshi Son\u2019s all\u2011in AI strategy.<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/30\/softbank-openai-investment.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li>SoftBank and OpenAI are also co\u2011investors in the $500 billion Stargate AI data center program via a $1 billion SB Energy deal, seen as critical to U.S. AI competitiveness.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>SoftBank Group is in discussions to invest up to $30 billion more in OpenAI, according to a Wall Street Journal <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/tech\/ai\/softbank-in-talks-to-invest-up-to-30-billion-more-in-openai-8585dea3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">report<\/a> published last week.<\/p>\n<p>CoinGecko\u2019s Artificial Intelligence (AI) category currently sits at about\u00a0$31.6 billion\u00a0in total market cap, with roughly\u00a0$2.4 billion\u00a0in 24\u2011hour trading volume and a positive 2.7% daily move, making it a meaningful but still niche slice of the roughly multi\u2011trillion\u2011dollar crypto market. <\/p>\n<p>While the multi-billion dollar deal may mean big bucks for OpenAI, how the crypoto sector is fragmented across sub\u2011verticals such as AI agents, data and infrastructure, and application-layer tokens, with capital rotating quickly between narratives like decentralized GPU networks, agent frameworks and biometric identity as new use cases and partnerships have emerged.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Details of landmark OpenAI and SoftBank deal emerge<\/h2>\n<p>The potential investment could be part of a funding round that would raise $100 billion and value the artificial intelligence company at approximately $830 billion, the report stated.<\/p>\n<p>The additional investment would follow SoftBank\u2019s December commitment of $41 billion, which gave the Japanese conglomerate an 11% stake in OpenAI, according to the report.<\/p>\n<p>SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has pursued an aggressive strategy to strengthen the company\u2019s position in the artificial intelligence sector amid rising competition from rivals including Alphabet, the report said.<\/p>\n<p>OpenAI faces growing costs for training and running its AI models, driven by rapid adoption and the launch of increasingly sophisticated AI systems, according to industry analysts.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<p>Both SoftBank and OpenAI are investors in Stargate, a $500 billion project to build AI data centers designed to support large-scale training and inference operations. Project executives have stated the infrastructure is key to U.S. competitiveness in AI against China.<\/p>\n<p>SoftBank declined to comment on the discussions when contacted by the Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n<p>The talks signal the company\u2019s continued commitment to OpenAI, which has become a central component of its AI strategy, the report noted. Other Vision Fund deals have slowed as the company focuses resources on the OpenAI investment, according to the report.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">OpenAI and SoftBank deal, what does it mean for AI cryptos?<\/h2>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Worldcoin (WLD): biometric ID + AI upside<\/h2>\n<p>Worldcoin\u2019s WLD (WLD) token has surged on reports OpenAI may use iris-based verification for a bot-free social platform, turning it into a high-beta proxy on AI identity demand.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Price action: WLD recently jumped more than 15% in a single session as traders priced in potential integration and renewed speculative flows into AI\u2013ID plays.<\/li>\n<li>Structural driver: if OpenAI or other large AI platforms adopt Worldcoin\u2019s proof-of-personhood rails, WLD could see sustained on-chain activity rather than one-off news spikes.<\/li>\n<li>Risk: regulatory pressure around biometrics, privacy, and data localization could cap upside or slow network growth despite narrative strength.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Fetch.ai (FET): autonomous agents and AI middleware<\/h2>\n<p>Fetch.ai\u2019s FET (FET) token tracks adoption of its agentic compute stack, where autonomous economic agents automate tasks and transact on-chain.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Price action: FET typically outperforms in AI risk-on phases as investors rotate into \u201cpicks-and-shovels\u201d narratives around agent frameworks and on-chain AI services.<\/li>\n<li>Structural driver: real usage of Fetch agents in logistics, DeFi automation, or data markets can translate into recurring demand for FET to pay for transactions and services.<\/li>\n<li>Risk: competition from other AI middleware and L2s building native agent frameworks could dilute the narrative if Fetch fails to land visible enterprise or ecosystem integrations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Render (RNDR): GPU liquidity for AI<\/h2>\n<p>Render\u2019s RNDR (RNDR) token is levered to GPU scarcity, giving holders exposure to decentralized rendering and AI compute demand.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Price action: RNDR has tended to rally alongside AI-chip names and major model launches, as markets bet on persistent GPU bottlenecks and the need for distributed rendering power.<\/li>\n<li>Structural driver: if AI training and inference workloads continue to fragment across clouds and DePIN networks, Render\u2019s marketplace model can translate higher GPU utilization into RNDR demand.<\/li>\n<li>Risk: competition from centralized cloud providers and other DePIN GPU networks could compress margins and weaken the link between AI capex booms and RNDR performance over time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SoftBank is reportedly weighing up to $30B more for OpenAI in a $100B round valuing the AI firm near $830B, deepening their Stargate data center and SB Energy push. Summary&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21110"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21111,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21110\/revisions\/21111"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}